Last spring semester, Shemida Qualls analyzed data, learned how to run study participants, reviewed research literature, attended lab meetings, and received other professional development under Dr. Allison Nguyen, an assistant professor of psychology.

Qualls didn’t have to wait three years into his undergraduate studies or until graduate school to get this research experience. The freshman psychology major was participating in a new program that pays Illinois State students to conduct research early in their careers.

“I never had a freshman working in my research lab, and this was fantastic,” Nguyen said. “It’s so nice to get someone so early in their career and be like, ‘Look at all the cool stuff you can do.’”

The opportunity was made possible by the NeSTeR (Novice Student Researchers) program, a federal work-study initiative that Illinois State’s Office of Student Research (OSR) launched at the beginning of 2025. OSR Director Gina Hunter created NeSTeR to encourage more freshmen and sophomores to conduct research. She noted that her office’s other grants—FIREbird (Faculty-mentored Independent Research Experiences) and BirdFEEDER (Fund for Experimentation, Enquiry and the Development of Student Research)—are directed to more experienced students.

“Both the FIREbird and the BirdFEEDERS require students to write a proposal,” Dr. Hunter said. “That means they already have some research experience. We want to expand the opportunities for early career students to get involved in research, and especially students who normally wouldn’t consider themselves researchers or might not otherwise have time to take on some research. This is for students who are work-study eligible, and so it is a job.”

Qualls and the four other initial NeSTeRs were paid $16 per hour to work about 10 hours a week throughout the spring semester. OSR matched students with faculty from across campus.

“Based on their interest, not only their major but just their general research interest, I paired them with faculty,” Hunter said. “So it wasn’t always a faculty member in their department. We had an Information Technology student who was interested in game design, so I contacted CTK (School of Creative Technologies), and they had a project that they could incorporate a sophomore. In another case, we had a Health Sciences student who wanted to get some lab experience, and (School of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor) Kyle Floyd said he could take her into his lab, so she’s learning some technical lab skills.”

Qualls joined the program to gain experience in a research lab and learn more about his major early in his career. “I just felt like it would be a good opportunity to do that.”

Hunter met with the students six times during the semester to discuss professional development topics as they related to research, such as communication, community, diversity, ethics, integrity, and team-building.

Hunter said the NeSTeR allows income-eligible students like Qualls to take advantage of federal aid they might otherwise leave on the table.

“They might not find a federal work-study job or find one they’re particularly interested in,” Hunter said. “There are lots of federal work-study jobs on campus, but instead of choosing one of those jobs, which may be less meaningful, why not use those funds to do something that will really further your career?”

Among the studies Qualls assisted with was Nguyen’s research focused on communication on the social media platforms Reddit and Discord. “Shemida has been doing a fantastic job, like brainstorming study ideas,” Nguyen said last spring.

Nguyen is a psycholinguist whose research occurs at the intersection of linguistic and psychological theory. “My work centers on how we use language with each other. And so what I’m interested in is how we come to understand each other when we have to negotiate a meaning.

“For example, if I say something is ‘kind of’ cool, how do we agree on how cool something is? Or I say someone’s ‘kind of’ tall, how do we come to agree on how tall someone is? We have to do a lot of really careful negotiation. And so I’m interested in how we enter and exit into these negotiation periods, and how we signal all of this stuff to our conversational partners.”

Qualls said he has learned a lot about analyzing data and understanding what it means in the context of the research.
“I think that it’s great that we’re able to pay people to do research,” Nguyen said. “Because it means more people can get involved. I think everyone who has the opportunity should do this.”

For more information about the NeSTeR program, contact the Office of Student Research at StudentResearch@IllinoisState.edu.